Wrighster or Wrong - Travis Hunter's Injury

Colorado Buffaloes 2-way star Travis Hunter was injured on a cheap shot in the Colorado St. vs Colorado game. George explains why the NCAA is missing the mark when it comes to player safety with targeting, but letting a dirty play that resulted in injury go unpunished.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You ready to check your feelings at the door? Check
it out, checking out. This is am I Reister or
am I Row. We're bringing you facts and only the truth. Now,
am I Reister or am I Row? We need to
talk about Travis Hunter's injury on the cheap shot by
Henry Blackburn in the Colorado Colorado State games. Now, if

(00:22):
you didn't see it, Blackburn came over from his safety
position put his shoulder into Hunter's ribs well after that
sideline pass already sailed over Hunter's head. Now, Blackburn was
trying to knock Hunter out of the game, and it worked.
It was a cheap shot. But after Hunter came out
of the game, he got sent to the hospital for evaluation.
And all we know now is that Hunter is knocked

(00:43):
out for several games and until he gets back. Henry
Blackburn should be suspended too, but he won't be because
you can intentionally try to injure somebody you want in
college football, so as long as you don't lower your
head when you do it, lower your head with on
a tackle like Weaver states the Seami Covin did against
Utah last week. Kicked out of the game. Lower your

(01:05):
shoulder into the ribs are the best player on the
field at full speed well after the play has ended.
Stay in the game, but the ball gets moved forty
five feet ahead. Now, Henry Blackburn isn't gonna go unpunished.
This is from a young man who is from Boulder,
Colorado walking around in his hometown is going to be
a little less comfortable now that people like Lebron James

(01:26):
are tweeting about his dirty hit. However, he will be
able to play in the first half of the next
week's game versus Middle Tennessee State, while his teammate Mohammad
Kamara will have to sit out because he got flagged
for targeting on his hitd of Shador Sanders. And I
know that people are gonna say this is about Colorado.
Oh stop talking about You wouldn't even be saying this.

(01:48):
I've been saying this for years in other sports, not
just college football. When you make a dirty play, you
should be out the same amount of time as the
person that you made the dirty place against is out.
And this is less about Henry Blackburn and more about
how it exposes the ncublea's ridiculous refusal to address the

(02:09):
fact that a massive portion of the targeting costs involve
accidental contact and end up being judgment calls from referees
who are watching slow motion replays of a fast motion play.
There needs to be a differentiation between incidental and non
malicious contact that the NCUBA wants to discourage and the
intentional type of plays that can ruin somebody's career and

(02:33):
physical well being. And nobody understands the need to keep
players as safe as possible in a game intensely more
physical than I do. I had to take these hits.
I've had multiple back surgeries. But I'm a former offensive
player that's here to tell you that trying to take
the football out of football by differentiating between things that

(02:54):
happen when a defender is trying to make a play,
Like when Mississippi States Sean Preston Junie got tossed for
tackling a non sliding Jaden Daniels in their game against LSU.
This is football. Bad things happen to good people sometimes. Now,
at most it should have been a penalty for leading
with a helmet. I can live with that, But for

(03:16):
the rules as they're written to create the reality that
it's less egregious for a safety to use his shoulder
as a weapon on a defensive receiver. After the play
inns that's a joke. We can try and rind the
game of lower crowns and launching. That's a notable pursuit.
Stuff like what Denver Broncos Kareem Jackson did to Washington
Commanders tight end Logan Thomas on Sundays needs to involve

(03:39):
punishments that span the length of injuries that they might cause.
I feel the same way about Henry Blackburn, but if
the illegal contact seems unintentional, throw the flag. Make it
a teachable moment instead of an overly punitive action that
shifts the balance of competition in the game. Let that
sink in